As a merchant, you need to keep your merchandise accounts in the most common currency in Virginia--pounds, shillings and pence. In this system there are:

12 pence to 1 shilling; and 20 shillings to 1 pound

The symbol for pounds is "£"
The symbol for shillings is "s"
The symbol for pence is "d"

So, if you see £1.8s.10d., you will read it as "1 pound, 8 shillings and 10 pence."